To Be Continued

Southeast US Premiere

This fascinating and utterly absorbing film is a love letter to Hong Kong and its pioneering impresario who brought The Beatles and Isaac Stern to perform for the first time in the city. Flamboyant and cigar-chomping, Harry Odell was a Cairo-born, Shanghai-bred Russian Jew who stamped his mark on the cultural life of post-war Hong Kong by bringing Cliff Richard, Xavier Cugat, and other legendary musical figures to perform at his legendary State Theater in the city. His hopeful, if chronically loss-making adventures pushed the cultural frontiers of his adopted home, capturing the open, dynamic, and inclusive spirit of a bygone era to leave a legacy that resonates to this day. What began as a conservation campaign to save the iconic State Theatre in Hong Kong from demolition morphs into five years of research and interviews with those who witnessed Odell in action. The result is a film that is as much a study of one indomitable pioneer, an entertainment tycoon largely forgotten by history, as it is a soul-searching journey of what defines Hong Kong. Rich with local history, the story of the State Theatre and Harry Odell is a celebration of Hong Kong’s dynamic culture and indomitable spirit.